"Graveyard Shift" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the October 1970 issue of Cavalier magazine and collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. It was adapted into a 1990 film of the same name.[1]
Graveyard Shift is set in a small town in Maine, and the action largely takes place in a textile mill.
Plot summaryedit
A young drifter named Hall has been working at a decrepit textile mill in a small town in Maine when the cruel foreman, Warwick, recruits him and others to assist with a massive cleaning effort. The basement of the old mill has been abandoned for decades, and over the years, a monumental infestation of rats has taken hold.
This rat empire, cut off from the rest of nature, has allowed the animals to evolve into a strange and varied combination of creatures, complete with its own bizarre, self-sustaining ecosystem. There are large, armored rats; albino, weasel-like rats that can climb up walls or burrow through the ground; and bat-like rats that have evolved to pterosaurian sizes. The men eventually come across a sub-basement, locked from the inside. Warwick then enlists Hall to go down and investigate the sub-basement and that he may take whomever he likes. Hall chooses Warwick who, despite trying to prevent them from entering, is forced to press on.
As they make their way through the sub-basement, Hall and Warwick discover that it harbors something more terrifying and hideous than any of them could have dreamed—a cow-sized queen rat with no eyes or legs, whose only purpose is to endlessly breed more rats. Hall sprays Warwick towards the queen with a hose they were using to attack the rats. As the queen devours Warwick, Hall makes his way towards the exit while spraying the rats. However, he is overwhelmed and eaten alive by the hordes of mutated rats. Meanwhile, the other team of workers on the surface wonders what has happened to them and, with no idea what kind of horror awaits them, prepares to descend into the basement.
graveyard, shift, short, story, graveyard, shift, short, story, stephen, king, first, published, october, 1970, issue, cavalier, magazine, collected, king, 1978, collection, night, shift, adapted, into, 1990, film, same, name, graveyard, shift, short, story, s. Graveyard Shift is a short story by Stephen King first published in the October 1970 issue of Cavalier magazine and collected in King s 1978 collection Night Shift It was adapted into a 1990 film of the same name 1 Graveyard Shift Short story by Stephen KingCavalier October 1970CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenre s Horror short storyPublicationPublished inNight ShiftPublisherDoubledayMedia typePrint Hardcover Publication date1970 Contents 1 Setting 2 Plot summary 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksSetting editGraveyard Shift is set in a small town in Maine and the action largely takes place in a textile mill Plot summary editA young drifter named Hall has been working at a decrepit textile mill in a small town in Maine when the cruel foreman Warwick recruits him and others to assist with a massive cleaning effort The basement of the old mill has been abandoned for decades and over the years a monumental infestation of rats has taken hold This rat empire cut off from the rest of nature has allowed the animals to evolve into a strange and varied combination of creatures complete with its own bizarre self sustaining ecosystem There are large armored rats albino weasel like rats that can climb up walls or burrow through the ground and bat like rats that have evolved to pterosaurian sizes The men eventually come across a sub basement locked from the inside Warwick then enlists Hall to go down and investigate the sub basement and that he may take whomever he likes Hall chooses Warwick who despite trying to prevent them from entering is forced to press on As they make their way through the sub basement Hall and Warwick discover that it harbors something more terrifying and hideous than any of them could have dreamed a cow sized queen rat with no eyes or legs whose only purpose is to endlessly breed more rats Hall sprays Warwick towards the queen with a hose they were using to attack the rats As the queen devours Warwick Hall makes his way towards the exit while spraying the rats However he is overwhelmed and eaten alive by the hordes of mutated rats Meanwhile the other team of workers on the surface wonders what has happened to them and with no idea what kind of horror awaits them prepares to descend into the basement See also editStephen King short fiction bibliographyReferences edit Cavett Binion 2015 Graveyard Shift Movies amp TV Dept The New York Times Archived from the original on February 22 2015 External links editGraveyard Shift at IMDb nbsp Graveyard Shift by Stephen King Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Graveyard Shift short story amp oldid 1207132860, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
